Shutter actuator



Sept. 6, 1938.

Herbert H. Harmon INVENTQR.

H. H. HARMON 2,129,210

SHUTTER ACTUATOR Filed July 16, 1937 FIGJ. 3

Patented Sept. 6, 1938 I UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs SHUTTER ACTUATORHerbert H. Harmon, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company,Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 16, 1937,Serial No. 153,997 4 Claims. ((71. 9553) This invention relates tophotography and 5 and a front wall 6, on which the camera shutter moreparticularly to photographic camera shut- 1 is mounted by means of asomewhat elongated ter actuators. tubular extension 8.

One object of my invention is to provide a The shutter 1 may be of anywell known type 5 shutter with an actuator which may be manually and ishere shown as being a shutter of the set- 5 operated from any pointaround the entire peting type including a shutter setting lever 8havrlphery of the shutter. Another object of my ing a path of movementthrough the slot I0 and invention is to provide a camera which includesa shutter trigger H having a path of movement a shutter actuator whichcan be readily operated through the slot !2.

1 by a finger of a hand holding the camera. An- If desired, the shuttermay be equipped With a 10 other object of my invention is to provide afocusing objective of a known type and this 01 camera which can bereadily grasped by b th jective may include a knurled ring l3 which mayhands and to include a shutter actuator which be turned to focus animage on the focal plane can be readily operated by a finger of either ohe Sh tter.

- hand holding the camera. Still another object In accordance With my ve I mount a 15 of my invention is to equip a shutt r of th shutteractuating member on the shutter, prefsetting type with an oscillatablemember having erebly adjacent to the camera, in such a manner a fingergrip extending at least partially around that regardless of the positionin Wh ch the the shutter which can be oscillated to both set camera aybe held, a portion of the release may go and release the camera shutter,and other obbe readily grasped d s ated to Operate the jects will appearfrom the following specification, e r i the novel features beingparticularly pointed out In Preferred embodiment Of y invention. I

i the claim at th d thereof, provide an annular member I of a size torotate Coming now to the drawing wherein like refupon e tubular member ea nu ar memerence characters denote like parts throughout: b 54 beingpreferably p ded W th an out- 25 Fig. 1 is a top pla vie of a camerastanding flange l5 which is preferably knurled or structed in accordanwith a d embodying otherwise roughened at l6 to form a convenientpreferred form of my invention. grip- The annular member l4 ay Carry eFig. 2 is a front elevation of the camera shown mere $10118 n t0 engageOne mo e p s I8 in Fig. 1. on the tubular member 8, so that the annular30 Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of a preferred member ring mayoscillate When turned y form of shutter actuator removed from the theknurled flange The annular member 9-180 shutter. carries an arm l9 whichcrosses the path of the Fig. 4 1s a modified form of the invention showntrigger l and which s adapted to enga and in the precedin figures, movethe trigger when the ring is manually op- 35 In the so-called miniaturecameras which are erated- Thus, when it is desired to make n held at eyelevel for making exposures, it is freexposure, the level 9 is movedvthrough its P th quently dimcult to r a h th trigger on t tof movementin the slot Hi to tension the shutter ter by which an exposure i made,pa -flcularlyspring, after which an operator may readily as the cameramay be held in a variety of difiermove the trigger l l p the u e y meely 40 ent positions. My present invention is particmoving tihe ringthreugh any Portion of the ularly designed to overcome the usualdifficulties khulling which is most convenient Thus, it by providing anoscillatable finger i which is immaterial how the camera is held becauseextends around a large part-preferably the enthere is always a portionof the knurling l6 which-1;.

tire periphery-of th hutt r, so th t t least is convenient for theoperator to move. The bel a portion of the finger gri is readilyaccessible knurling preferably extends entirely around the regardless ofthe position in whi h t camera shutter, although a quite satisfactoryshutter is held while an exposure is being made. pp m r ay be d y p v dn a In Figs. 1 and 2,1 have illustrated a preferred khul'lihg which doesnot extend e e y form of my invention, in which a camera body I aroundthe Shutter- 50 may be equipped with the usual type of film However, asindicated in Figs. 1 and 2, it is winding key 2. On top of the camerabody th r preferable to have the knurling extend adjacent is preferablymounted a folding finder of the to the top wall I and to the bottom wall20 of direct view type, designated broadly as 3.; The the camera, and itis likewise preferable to have camera includes a top wall 4, roundedendiwalls the knurllng lie adjacent to the front wall 6, 55

spaced a slight distance therefrom. The reason for this is that it-isnot desirable to have this ring project into a position in which it maybe accidentally operated by laying the camera down or by having the ringcome in contact with the 'clothes of a camera user.

I! desired, the oscillatable ring l4 may be provided with portions whichnot only engage the shutter trigger, but also engage the shutter settingmember so that movement of the ring in one direction will set theshutter and movement of the ring in an opposite direction will trip theshutter. Accordingly, I have shown such a form of the invention in Fig.4. In this figure, the ring I4 is exactly like the ring shown in thepreceding figures having an outstanding flange l5 which is roughened atl6 to form an operating grip. The ring diflers from the ring previouslydescribed in that there is an outstanding arm 24 which has portions 25and 26 adapted to engage the shutter trigger H and the shutter settingmember 9. Thus, when the knurling I6 is moved in a clockwise directioniacin the front wall 6.01 the camera body, the settin lever 8 is movedthrough its path of movement through the slot Ill to tension the shutterspring. By moving the knurled ring it in an opposite direction, portion25 engages the shutter trigger II and trips the shutter.

To accommodate this somewhat greater movement than has been foundnecessary for the firstdescribed embodiment of my invention, the ring IIis provided with a slot 21 which is longer than the slot l1 so that thepin it will permit the ring to move a sufllcient distance for bothsetting and tripping the shutter.

As indicated in Fig. 3, I prefer, to provide two slots H in the ring ll,although obviously the number 01' these slots can be varied'at will.

With the first-described embodiment of my invention, the ring It movesvery readily upon the tubular member 8 and consequently the spring 0!the camera shutter trigger ll normally holds the knurled ring in theposition shown in Fig. l, in which it is in contact with an edge of theshutter trigger ii. However, ii. desired, the extent of movement of thering ll may be varied to suit the particular type oi! shutter andtrigger construction which may be employed with it, and where a shutter01 a setting type is employed, the ring may be shaped so that portionswill engage both the trigger and the setting member. It is obvious thatmy invention is useful on any of the standard types of shutters whichmay be used on photographic cameras and that the particular shape anddesign of the ring is not material. Shutters of the setting andnon-setting type may, of course, be employed.

The operation or 'my invention is extremely simple. With the shutteractuator built as described above, the operator may readily makeexposures with the camera held in any position, and this actuatorisparticularly adapted for use on cameras held at eye level. It theshutter is of the setting variety and the ring is of the constructionshown in Fig. 4, the operator may hold the camera by its curved ends andplace one or more fingers on the knurled portion of the ring adjacentthe front wall 8 of the camera. By turning the ring in a clockwisedirection with respect to the front of the camera, the setting lever 9may be moved through its path or move ment through the slot ill to placethe shutter spring under tension and prepare the shutter mechanism foran exposure. By then moving This operation can be readily accomplishedwithout removing either hand from the camera body, and it greatlyassists in keeping the camera perfectly steady during the exposure.Moreover,

the ring can be operated in a great many diflerent ways, because itentirely encircles the annular member 8 and because it can be moved fromany point radially of the shutter.

I am aware that George H. Ohlau, in U.. 8. Patent 1,698,063, grantedJanuary 8, 1929, for "Aviation camera shutter operating mechanism" showsa ring mounted to oscillate on a shutter for setting and tripping theshutter. However, this ring can only be actuated from the outside of thecamera through its connections with a movable handle mounted on theoutside of the camera body. My claims do not cover such a ring broadly,but only in connection with a shutter and camera in which it alsocarries a shutter release which may be operated from various pointsaround the shutter.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to besecured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A shutter for photographic cameras comprising an annular shuttercasing, a trigger projecting therefrom, a trigger actuating membercomprising a plate curved to fit the curvature of the annular shuttercasing and slidably mounted thereon, means carried by the triggeractuating member and casing for limiting movement of the former on thelatter, a curved flange carried by the curved plate concentric with theshutter casing, means carried by the curved plate extending therefrom toengage the shutter trigger for actuating the same, a curved roughenedarea on the curved flange concentric with the shutter casing andextending at least partially around the shutter whereby various parts ofsaid roughened surface may be used as a manual shutter release.

2. In a photographic camera, the combination with a camera body, 01' anobjective carried directly by the camera casing, a ring mountedconcentrically oi! the objective to turn relatively thereto, an annularflange carried by the ring, a roughened and continuous finger gripcarried by the edge of the annular flange, an arm projecting from thering and movable through a path, a shutter carrying an objective, atrigger for the shutter extending across the path of movement or the armand adapted to be moved thereby, a setting lever having a path ofmovement extending across the path of movement of said arm and adaptedto be moved thereby, said ring, when turned by a portion of theroughened and continuous finger grip extending along the edge of theannular flange, being adapted to set and release said shutter.

3. In a photographic camera, the combination with a camera bodyincluding edge walls, a shutter carried thereby, an annular memberconnecting the shutter and camera, a ring mounted to turn on the annularmember, a knurled flange carried by said ring adjacent the camera bodyand having the knurling thereof extending concentrically of the shutterand at least around a substantial portion of the ring, said knurlinglying adjacent the edge walls of the camera irrespective of the positionof the ring, a shutter trigger extending from and movably mounted on theshutter, and means carried by the ring for ensuing the trigger, wherebyan operator may move the trigger by turning the ring through anyconvenient portion of the knurled. flange lying adjacent the camera.edge walls.

4. In a, photographic camera, the combination with a camera bodyincluding front and edge walls, a shutter carried thereby, an annularmember connecting the shutter and camera, a ring mounted to turn on theannular member, a knurled flange carried by the ring adjacent thecamera. body and having the knoll-ling thereof extendingconcenfizrically of the shutter and at least arolml substantial knurllngalso walls 01 the whereby an operator may move turning the ring In itshurling lay means of fingers of his the camera.

portions of the ring, uld

lying adjacent the front and edge camera, lying parallel to wall, ashutter trigger extending the lront from and movthe shutter and meanscarried engaging the shutter trigger,

we trigger by hana also holding; portion of 'm'r H. MON.

